It's tough. He's been really courageous by actually saying we are going to work together properly rather than have a loose arrangement where both sides could be looking to get out. But I'm concerned about the cuts. The key thing is the detail but he has persuaded me that it should be done over five rather than eight years. I am convinced when he says that the level of interest payments are astounding. So I thought it was a really good speech.

Penelope Putz, Central Devon

I'm trying to see the positive side, because I know there is a negative side – it's mostly put to me by the Labour-supporting members of my family who voted Lib Dem at the last election and regret it. They think the NHS is going to be destroyed and so I have to stress the positive side to them and Nick's speech also did that and will help me – he stressed the gains in civil liberties he has made and the bank levy.

Robin Rogers, Worthing West

He's a great speaker. If we had joined with Labour we would have been seen as a coalition of losers. The cuts have to happen whoever is in power because, as he said, there is massive debt interest. We need to convince people that the good things from the coalition are our ideas, and he understands that. His speech showed he had listened to us because he acknowledged we are unhappy about academies.

Lembit Opik, former MP for Montgomeryshire

He chose to face the issue head on by saying the country is in crisis, the party is in government and we are in charge. More than that he said we would have been bonkers to walk away from government. On the cuts, he rightly stressed that we had no alternative, and are now bound by collective responsibility. If we hold our nerve, we'll walk it in 2015. I lost my seat to a Tory, but I think he's done the right thing.

Denis Mollison, East Lothian

I was initially sceptical about Nick and voted for Chris Huhne but I think he's got better. It was a very good speech spelling out where are at and it also acknowledged we were unhappy about academies, but by showing he knows that we didn't sign up for all of the coalition, he shows he understands coalition politics. We've been arguing for collaboration for years, so we have to make this work.